Diversity at RCSI through the Decades (1970-2015) By Vidhi Patel Final Med Student The Project Last summer , I had the privilege of working with RCSI Heritage Collections as part of the Research Summer School. My research project was to look at gender distribution among RCSI students and staff over a given period of time (1970 – 2015 ). Gathering the Data Now, more than ever, more women are entering the medical field. However, studies have shown that just because there are more women doctors, that doesn’ t mean that there are more women doctors in leadership positions. A broad review of the US medical landscape in 2019-2020 found that despite women comprising 48% of medical graduates, they held only 20% of department chair positions and a mere 18% of deanships, with even lower representation for minority women . 1 My research project focuse d on analyzing gender diversity trends within RCSI ’s undergraduate medical student body from 1970 to 2015, as well as assessing gender